At WWDC (Worldwide Developers Conference) 2020, Apple introduced a lot of great new updates to SwiftUI to make it even easier for iOS App developers to write apps for Apple platforms. Developers have been discussing for a long time whether we should use Storyboards or develop the app UI programmatically. The intro of the SwiftUI framework is Apple. With this brand new framework, Apple offers iOS app developers a new way to build user interfaces.
You may be wondering what’s so magical about “SwiftUI”. In this article, we’ll discuss what SwiftUI means by app development and how it influences iOS app developers. Additionally, we have listed the exclusive features of SwiftUI and its advantages. So, let’s check them out!
What is SwiftUI and how it affects iOS App Developers?
SwiftUI is a user interface toolkit that allows us to design mobile applications in a declarative way. It is a completely new approach to building User Interfaces (UIs) for Apple platforms. Moreover, you can code your UIs for iOS, macOS, tvOS, and watchOS directly with the swift programming language.
Since iOS 13, mobile app developers can select to build their UIs with SwiftUI. The framework uses a distinct approach: you can create a UI entirely with Swift code. If you’re a developer working in the Apple ecosystem then getting started with comprehending SwiftUI is a smart idea. SwiftUI is interesting to work with, but it’s also slated to become the default method for building UIs.
How will SwiftUI change Mobile Development?
In 2019, we witnessed the popularity of declarative programming skyrocket, mostly thanks to the rise of React, one of the most preferred front-end frameworks used today. Much of the enthusiasm and expertise React developers have for the framework’s functionality has made its way to the world of mobile development. With Apple enrolling Swift UI into the ring, we’re driving further into the declarative world for mobile development. Undoubtedly, with continued investment and development into SwiftUI, it will become a more fun way of creating iOS apps and be adopted by the next generation of iOS app developers.
Also Read: Why Enterprises Prefer Mobile App Development in Swift
Reasons Why iOS Developers should switch to SwiftUI Framework
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Better UI Structure –
Apple has driven a new approach with SwiftUI — offering a declarative solution to creating out your user interface. Using UIKit and Auto Layout, Traditionally, we’re used to seeing a powerful approach to building UI. With SwiftUI, we’re able to create a precise UI that’s easy for people to understand even if they aren’t familiar with Swift or iOS development.
For people like project handoffs and onboarding new developers, this is a huge success. You’re also getting the added benefit of not having to worry about breaking restrictions, and obscure layouts like you do with Auto Layout.
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Faster App Development –
Because you’re using a declarative approach with SwiftUI, you write less code, which in turn implies less development time. On top of this, Xcode includes a live preview feature for SwiftUI projects which lets you see UI changes without having to compile an app every single time you want to see changes made in your app.
By eliminating all the complexity encompassing compiling and viewing UI, along with the time saved from writing less code, you’re able to deliver a result a lot faster.
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Seamless Framework Integration –
Apple has provided the flexibility of selecting and choosing the best elements of each framework, you’re able to minimize the risk associated with switching your project structure and development process. The shift from one framework to another comes with a lot less stress and is less harsh than having to choose one or the other.
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Modern Layout Options –
One of the most interesting things about SwiftUI is how the core layout elements work. Layouts like UITableView, UICollectionView, UIStackView are incredibly flexible, predictable, and require much less energy to produce great results. You’re no longer bothered by having to track down broken constraints.
Further, Apple has added support for lazy-loading grid elements, which can changethe number of columns in a grid to fit the space available, as well as for building highly customized, scrollable layouts.
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Future of Development for iOS –
Things like WidgetKit, the API used to develop the all-new widget feature on iOS 14 are currently only being made available to SwiftUI. It’s an exciting time to create mobile apps, and with such rapid progress of SwiftUI in such a short time, the future looks very bright. You can see more of the latest and excellent features that have been added to SwiftUI here.
SwiftUI Features – The Next Step for iOS App Developers
1. Runs on Apple’s Latest OS –
Before going into the features of SwiftUI, let us clear out that the applications developed using SwiftUI will be compatible across all Apple’s OS platforms but, it will not support the previous versions of OS. SwiftUI extends its support to iOS 13 operating in XCode 11.
2. Native Characteristics –
It adapts all the native features and functionalities of the platform and thereby delivers an interactive user interface at a swift speed. Furthermore, the SwiftUI app development framework can be integrated with APIs such as ARKit, and automatic language optimization making the Swift iOS experience more seamless for the developers as well as the users.
3. Declarative Syntax –
Developers can easily add complex animations using just a few lines of code. This declarative syntax does handling, managing, and creating things much smoothly, aligned, and easily. This ease of development and deployment decreases the total time of app development.
4. Drag and Drop for iOS Developers –
Using Swift UI, developers can drag a button from the library and drop it on the canvas directly. A developer is free to rearrange the controls, modify the design, font, color, etc. making the drag-and-drop method is even more applicable to attributes like font-weight.
5. Supports Dark Mode –
SwiftUI made it feasible to visualize the screens even during the night times for a better feel. This is great news especially to the developers who were not comfortable using bright themes at night.
6. Live Previews –
Using the Swift UI framework’s Preview features, iOS developers have the possibility to create more than one preview of their designs and display it on multiple devices and various orientations. This is a great way for them to check their designs, colors, and other looks at the same time.
7. Semantic Colors –
Every single feature of SwiftUI is urging developers to make a quick shift towards it. Hence, SwiftUI framework colors automatically change depending on the dark and light mode and it has the standard colors like green, blue, and red.
8. Cross-platform User Interface –
SwiftUI serves as a cross-platform user interface layer, which functions across tvOS, macOS, iOS, and watchOS. It is easier to use the same code across all platforms. Hence, now it is sufficient to learn one language, one layout framework, and can deploy the code anywhere.
9. View Composition –
The views in SwiftUI are incredibly lightweight and includes zero performance penalties while creating them. The Swift views are available as a Swift struct and the developer can create, or pass it as value parameters. This benefits the developers by excluding excess memory allocations as well as the development of various subclasses and dynamic messages.
10. Dynamic Replacement –
Adding more to the features list, Swift compiler and runtime are installed with Xcode Hence, iOS app developers can create and run the codes in real-time. Also, developers who employ Xcode can swap the code in the live application directly by using the dynamic replacement factor.
Advantages of SwiftUI –
- SwiftUI has fewer codes for larger purposes and easy to use.
- It is easy to learn. Also, the code is very simple and clear.
- SwiftUI focuses completely on the workflow of developers which leads to better
developer productivity. SwiftUI is wholly composed of Swift source code, merge
conflicts are less likely to befall, and easier to resolve. - It offers a live preview which is a very helpful and progressive way to see the output
of code execution in real-time without having to build. - The interface builder of SwiftUI is replaced by Canvas – an interactive interface
editor. Also, in SwiftUI you will not face Auto Layout related problems.
Use SwiftUI for Your Next Project
Though SwiftUI is new to most developers, it’s the right time to learn and include the framework in your new project. If you have some individual projects or side projects in your company, there is no reason why you shouldn’t try out SwiftUI. SwiftUI is unarguably very new and it takes time to develop into a mature framework, but what’s clear is that SwiftUI is the future of application development for Apple platforms.
Even though it may not be appropriate for your production projects, it’s recommended to start a side project and explore the framework. Once you try out SwiftUI and acquire the skills, you will enjoy developing UI in a declarative way.
Conclusion –
We hope that now you all agree with the thought that “SwiftUI is incredibly powerful” and will give tough competition to the other top languages/frameworks. More potential of the framework is yet being explored, however, if you hire iOS app developers, they will help you in developing a standard iOS using the SwiftUI’s features.
Also Read: Best Books to Learn Swift Programming in 2020 & Beyond
